Entries from June 2003

Gene therapy ‘to be expanded’ – good news from the BBC; the UK government is going to significantly increase funding for gene therapy. If things continue like this, the US may get left behind, along with its irrational fear of many other new biological techniques.

I returned to England on Monday, and almost immediately went to Emmanuel College May Ball, which was great fun. I’m currently a fair bit sleep deprived, but once I’ve recovered I’m going to start work on writing a report of my trip to the TEDMED3 conference. Some teasers:
- Be SHOCKED as Adrian is almost denied [...]

Wired recently wrote an article on how bloggers are violating gag rules at conferences. In the article, they mention the organiser of the TEDMED3 conference I’m going to tomorrow:
Richard Saul Wurman, organizer of the long-running TED conference (which is now TedMed), said reporting restrictions are meaningless, a smoke screen to make attendees think they will [...]

NASA’s two new Mars rovers have been named ‘Spirit’ and ‘Opportunity’. I’m just as much for getting schoolkids to name spacecraft as anyone else, but couldn’t they have picked anything more inspiring? It sounds as if the PC brigade had sucked all the life out of this competition well before it begun. They’re not terrible, [...]

I received my final results at 4pm today – I got a 2:1 in my course, Anatomy A: Research in Neuroscience. I’m fairly pleased with it. Sure, it’s not a first, but it’s enough to secure my DPhil at Oxford that starts in October.
Out of 21 people, four received firsts, one received a 2:2 and [...]

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What are the 100 objects that future historians will pick to define our 21st century? A javelin thrown by an 'enhanced' Paralympian, far further than any normal human? Virtual reality interrogation equipment used by police forces? The world's most expensive glass of water, mined from the moons of Mars? Or desire modification drugs that fuel a brand new religion?

A History of the Future in 100 Objects describes a hundred slices of the future of everything, spanning politics, technology, art, religion, and entertainment. Some of the objects are described by future historians; others through found materials, short stories, or dialogues. All come from a very real future.